A nightmare that won't go away
by TheDarkwriter7
Summary: Set two years after the movie. When Agatha randomly comes back to life, Norman feels like a prayer has been answered. But even though Aggie has returned, all is not well for someone is hunting Norman and they intend to complete their assignment. But is the hunter the true threat? Or is it something much deeper? Includes OCs; NOW COMPLETE!
1. Resurrection

**STORY DISCLAMIER ****- I do not own ParaNorman. It is owned by Laika studios.**

* * *

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 1 – Resurrection**

It was the end of school and as 13 year old Norman Babcock walked down the hallways, he couldn't help but remember how he was able to STOP getting hurt by bullies at school. It had been exactly two years since Norman had stopped the curse of Agatha Prenderghast and saved his village of Massachusetts and since then, Norman couldn't have asked for a better social life. His family now accepted him for his 'gift', Norman and Neil (cause Neil was his friend) were no longer bullied at school and people actually SPOKE to them in PUBLIC now.

When Norman reached his locker, he also noticed that no one had been writing messages for him on it and that only made him happy. Norman then opened his locker to get his school books and the flowers he had bought earlier for Aggie's grave. Yes, ever since Norman had stopped the witch's curse, every month he would go to her grave and leave her a bunch of flowers because he thought she would like; he was even thinking of decorating the area around the tree by growing flowers and maybe putting a headstone on it. As Norman put the flowers and his books in his bag after closing his locker, his friend Neil called out to him.

"Hey Norman!" Neil called as he walked down the hall. "You ready to go home? I was thinking you could sleepover at mine tonight for a horror movie marathon!" At this, Norman's face let a small smile grace it but he then pulled the flowers out from his bag to show his friend. "Sorry Neil, I can't tonight; remember what day it is?" Neil's face scrunched up in face for a second but then beamed in realisation. "Oh Yeah" he exclaimed. "You're going to visit your "little ghost's" grave, aren't you?" At this, Norman seemed to blush a little but then looked frustrated. "She isn't 'my' little ghost" Norman responded. "But you wish she was, right?" Neil teased. Norman simply looked away.

Yes, Norman would never admit it; not even to his best friend but he had come to terms that since he hit thirteen, he had gained a crush on the black dress wearing ghost girl. When he would go visit Aggie's grave, he would remember how she looked in that black puritan dress and he would feel his cheeks grow warm. Whenever this happened, he would normally think that if Aggie WAS watching him, she would find it disturbing or humorous.

"Even if I did Neil, what's your point? It's not like she's going to come back to life anytime soon" Norman said to his best friend; now quiet sad at the thought of loving someone you couldn't be with. "Don't think like that Norman" Neil responded, trying to cheer up his friend. "If you're lucky, you might see her in heaven." When Norman heard that, his face seemed to glow in the darkness as wonder and happiness overpowered his heart and mind. "Yeah, maybe..."

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_Later that day..._

As Neil closed the door to his house, Norman began to walk down the road on his way to Aggie's tree in the forest; flowers in hand. On the way, he would pass other ghosts who would greet him as usual but when he had flowers in his hand, they would also give him a bit of encouragement or even joke with him a little. When Norman was half way to his destination, he realised that he was near his own house and so, hid the flowers in his bag before continuing. The reason for this was because Norman was worried of what his family would think of him having a crush on a ghost girl who was his 300 year gap cousin.

Norman's mum Sandra would probably be ALRIGHT with it. She would just be happy that her son has found some type of love, even if it is for a ghost but Norman was worried that if she found out, she would never stop talking about it. His father Perry would go MAD if he found out, so Norman made sure he had a valid excuse for being home late from visiting Aggie's grave when his father would ask him. Lastly was Norman's older sister Courtney; who was now 17. Honestly, Norman felt ok about Courtney finding out; the reason being because she had actually became the most supportive member of his family since he saved the village. The reason he DIDN'T tell her was he feared that she might blab to their parents.

After successfully sneaking past his house and finding his way through the forest, Norman found himself at Aggie's tree. As soon as the tree was in his sights, Norman immediately took the flowers back out from his bag that he had hid whilst sneaking by his domain. With his gift in hand, Norman walked up to the tree. "Uh... Hi Aggie" he said. "I'm not sure if you can hear me or not but as I've said many times before, I remembered that it's been 24 months since you found peace and so I decided to bring you some more flowers." When those words escaped his lips, Norman put the fresh flowers down at the base of the tree and picked up the dead ones he had brought her last month. "Well, I'll just take these ones away then now that you've got a new fresh set." It was then that Norman remembered his plans to decorate the area around the tree. "Oh yeah, before I go Aggie, there's something I want to ask you." Norman paused for a second to wipe the sweat of his forehead that was forming there from nervousness. "I was thinking that maybe sometime before next month I could maybe... decorate your area a bit? I mean, I could grow you a garden, I could build a fence to make sure no one gets in and ruins in and I could even get you a headstone if you wanted me to." When Norman didn't get a reply, he frowned almost as if he was expecting one. "Alright, well I'll pop round sometime next week then" and with that, Norman began to leave.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light behind Norman and when he turned to see what it was; he heard a loud 'boom' and he was knocked off his feet by a shock wave. Norman then looked around frantically for anyone who could have possibly caused the small explosion but through the smoke that the explosion had created, he could see someone. Norman then noticed that the person was coming closer towards him and so he backed off a little to save him from possible danger but when the figure became visible, Norman couldn't believe his eyes.

"Aggie?"

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_Meanwhile, in Australia..._

"August 17th 2014, interviewing Byron White; a mercenary for the worldwide pharmaceutical company "Wide spread". I need to ask you some questions, Byron. Are you prepared to complete any and all assignments given to you by experimenting scientists?"

"Of course, sir."

"Are you prepared to kill armed civilians if they intervene with your current assignment?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you kill a enlisted scientist if your assignment's success depended on it?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you kill a young boy?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you kill a young girl?"

"...Yes sir."

With those questions answered, the interviewer turned off the recording machine and pulled a folder out from the desk he was sitting at. He then opened the folder and put it on the desk for both of them to see.

"Byron White, your first assignment as a mercenary is to kidnap this boy" the man said; pointing at a boy in the picture that was part of the assignment folder. "He has a special ability that only he has around the entire globe. We want him here so we can find a way to get his ability into a liquid form. With this, we would be answering the prayers of many grieving people. Do you understand what you have to do?" Byron White looked up to the man and nodded. "Alright, you may now leave to prepare for your assignment."

With that, the rookie mercenary left the room to get ready for his journey. When he left, the other man began to put the assignment folder back in its place but not before looking at the picture inside it once more...

The picture of Norman Babcock...

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_(A/N - I just wanted to give a HUGE thanks to InkyFridays of DeviantART for giving me the idea for this fan fic with his amazing picture of Norman and letting me use it as the preview pic! You rock man!_


	2. Starting over

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 2 – Starting over**

"Aggie?" Norman asked in disbelief. The girl who had been covering her identity by having her head held down low raised her head to make Norman's dream a reality. Standing before was an older Agatha Prenderghast; still wearing the same black puritan dress Norman had seen her in two years ago. By the looks of her now; Norman guessed that from her SLIGHTLY longer hair, bigger size dress, bigger shoes and now being as tall as him, she must've been his age... again.

"H-Hi Norman. How've you been?" She asked. Norman however, didn't answer because before Aggie knew it, he was right next to her and he was stocking her hair. At this, Aggie's eyes went wide in shock and she felt her cheeks go warm but this went away with Norman's next sentence. "You're... You're not a ghost; you're flesh and blood." With Norman's statement, Aggie remembered her good news. "Oh yeah, I've got some great news! Well, great for me; I'm not sure if you'll find it so great." Norman let a small smile overtake his expression. "It's okay Aggie; I won't make fun of you or anything. What's the good news?" Norman then realised Aggie was letting tears loose from her eyes... tears of joy. "I've been given a second chance... at life."

Norman couldn't believe what he had just heard escape his crush's lips. He felt as happy as Neil did when it was pizza day at the school cafeteria; and Neil got VERY happy when that happened. He now didn't have to die alone or get a girlfriend just to HAVE a girlfriend; he could now try and get what he needed to be happy to the fullest. With this new news, Norman was about to say something in response when he noticed that Aggie was now holding a bunch of flowers in her hand. Norman blushed so hard his cheeks were the colour of blood in which Aggie giggled. "Thanks for bringing me flowers every month, Norman." Norman scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "No-No problem, Aggie. Would you like to come back to my house for a bit?" Agatha seemed to debate it in her head for a moment before nodding shyly. And with that, they both began to walk back to Norman's house but not before Aggie whispered to him "And just to let you know, I would've loved it if you decorated."

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_1 hour later, after Norman and Aggie reached Norman's home..._

Norman opened the door for his secret crush to walk in first; she did after she muttered a quick "thank you" which made Norman feel appreciated. With her flowers still in hand, Aggie walked into the living room to see a fat man, a girl with a big butt, a ghost of an elderly women and a middle aged woman; all of which were giving her weird looks. It was at that moment that Norman decided to walk into the room.

"Err, son" his father Perry started. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your... friend?" It was then that Norman realised that none of his family had actually MET Aggie before. "Oh, yeah. Mom, dad, Courtney, grandma, I want you all to meet my friend Aggie." At this, Aggie gave a small wave to the Babcock family who waved deliriously; still shocked by the girl's dress sense. "That's a nice dress that you got there, darling" Norman's mom explained. Aggie blushed a little at the comment. "Thank you" she said. "Err, Aggie, why haven't we met you before and where did you get that dress?" Perry asked. Norman then decided to make the move (not THAT type of move!) "I think I have some explaining to do..."

After Norman explained to his family everything about Agatha (who had been quietly sitting in the corner throughout the whole explanation), her being involved with the witches curse and what he had been doing for the past two years (he didn't mention WHY to save himself the more annoying questions from his family and Aggie the embarrassment), all of Norman's family just stared at him for a minute... then turned to look at Aggie for a minute... and then back to Norman.

"Whoa" was all Perry could say to break the silence. "Well, I must say Agatha; you have a very peculiar storyline" said Sandra; Norman's mother. At this, Aggie seemed to squirm a bit in her spot on the sofa that Perry had 'gladly' given her after being told to 'respect the guest' by his wife. The reason for Aggie's squirm was because when Norman's mother said that she had a 'peculiar storyline', she thought that Sandra was referring to her time as the witch; her thoughts were interrupted by Norman's gasp.

"Hey guys, you know what I just realised?!" All of Norman's family and Aggie stared at him; waiting for him to answer. "Aggie doesn't have a place to stay!" At this statement, Aggie covered her mouth with her hands and gasped. Norman was right, now that she was alive and 'in the flesh' again (as Norman put it), Aggie would need a place to live but who would be nice enough to take in a random stranger? Little did Aggie know that whilst she was indulged in her own thoughts, Norman and his family had left the living room and were now in the kitchen, discussing the very matter.

"Oh, where could that poor girl go?" Sandra asked all of them. "Can't we try find someone who would be nice enough to take her in?" Perry asked. "Hey Norman; didn't your friend Alvin said he wanted a sister or someone like that?" the father of the family asked his son. Norman gasped at the question. Yes, it was true that Alvin and him were now friends but there was NO WAY that Norman was letting Alvin go near 'his' Aggie. "Hey Norman" grandma whispered to him. "I'm pretty sure if you could convince them to then your parents would let that darling girl live here." Norman beamed at the idea.

"Guys, can't she just live here? I mean, she is family." After Norman's comment, Perry and Sandra went to talk on their own for Perry was against the idea of one of Norman's 'friends' staying with them whilst Sandra thought they needed to let Aggie stay for as Norman said, she was part of the Prenderghast bloodline. Whilst they were debating over the situation, Courtney tapped Norman on his shoulder. "Hey Norman, Can I talk to you out in the hall for a second?" After considering it in his head, Norman nodded and he followed his sister into the hall.

"Norman, are you sure it's a good idea asking mum and dad if this girl can stay here? I mean, from what you've told us, you barely know her." Courtney said; going on the knowledge that Norman had said he'd only actually SEEN Aggie twice in his life. "Yes, I'm sure Courtney. Besides, it would be nice to talk to someone who understands me more. I'm not saying you guys don't; it's just that she can see the dead as well so it would be nice to have someone else to talk to the ghosts with, you know?" After his explanation, Norman began to walk back to the kitchen to see if his parents had reached an agreement when Courtney stopped him again.

"Hey Norman" she called. He turned around to see his sister smirking at him. "What's the reason you would take flowers to her grave? You said it doesn't matter but I want to know anyway." Whilst asking this question, Courtney had been walking towards her brother and now had the crimson coloured boy trapped in a corner. After a minute of silence on Norman's part, he sighed. "You promise you won't tell anyone or laugh?" he asked seriously. Courtney then nodded whilst doing the 'cross my heart' hand movement. Norman then reluctantly asked to his sister to come down to his height so he could whisper her the answer. After Norman told her, Courtney sighed and put her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Norman; there's no need to be ashamed by that. If you like her, you like her. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Just remember that as long as YOU and HER are happy, nothing else matters."

After Norman and Courtney had their little talk, they both went back into the living room where both could see Perry frowning, Sandra and Aggie both smiling and to Norman, grandma was smiling also. Suddenly, Aggie shot up and went over to Norman; there were tears evident in her eyes. "Your parents are letting me stay here." That was all Norman needed to hear for both teens to put their arms around each other (this looked a bit disturbing to all but Courtney). When they let go of each other, Norman quickly looked behind him to see his sister smirking at him.

"Shut up, Courtney."

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_Meanwhile, in Australia..._

"Byron White, you may now enter" said the doctor who was poking his head out of the doorway. The rookie mercenary then stood up from his chair in the medical waiting room and stepped past the doctor into the doctor's office. "So, Mr. White, what are you here for?" the doctor asked politely.

"The boss of the company says that it's crucial that I compete my assignment so he doesn't want me falling victim to ANY diseases or viruses out there." From the look of the doctor's face, Byron could guess that the doctor knew where this going. "So to make sure I can't be harmed by any bacteria or viruses while I'm out on this assignment, he wants you to give me the experimental antibiotic you've been working on."

Almost reluctantly, the doctor got up from his seat as his desk (yes, doctors have desks in this story) and walked over to his personal cabinet. He then took a key out from around his neck and unlocked the cabinet. After opening it, the doctor's eyesight and hand drawn to the test tube full of turquoise liquid and its accompanying syringe. The doctor immediately removed the top of from the test tube and sucked a suitable dose of it up into the syringe. The doctor then walked over to Byron White, who was simply waiting by the doctor's desk. Whilst the doctor was giving the mercenary the injection, he asked him...

"So what's your assignment then, rookie? Must be really important if the boss wants me to give you antibiotic X so you won't have to come back." Byron White raised his head to give the doctor a 'why should I tell you?' look. "Well, antibiotic X IS my life's work; I was just wondering how important your assignment is for you to need it." With the antibiotic now Byron's system, the doctor removed the syringe and wrapped the skin puncture with a bandage. "Well, Dr. Crawden" Byron responded, using the doctors name for the first time. "I've been given a mission to capture some boy who lives in Massachusetts; some kid called Norman Babcock."

With that, Byron White left the doctor's office to leave for his mission. Little did he know that in his wake, he had left an extremely angry doctor who by now, was simply putting a handgun into his lab coat pocket whilst he looked at the picture of him and his brother, who was holding a young boy in his arms.

"No Byron, you're not turning my nephew into a lab rat. Not on my watch..."


	3. He's coming

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 3 – He's coming**

Norman just grunted under his breath as he and his father set up his substitute 'room' in the living room. It was now 9:30pm and whilst Sandra and Aggie were out buying things Aggie would need (that's why Sandra went with her... yeah), Norman and his father had to build a canopy in the living room for Norman to sleep in. Why, you ask? Simple; Aggie was taking Norman's room.

When Norman found out that Aggie would be staying with them, he was the happiest Babcock alive and his sister knew it. What brought his spirits down a bit was that Aggie had nowhere to sleep at the time. So because Aggie was 'the guest' (for now) and it was Norman's idea in the first place, his mum had insisted that until they could gather up enough spare money for her own bed, Aggie would sleep in Norman's room and Norman would sleep on the couch; Norman was alright with this along as he was allowed to 'decorate' a bit so reluctantly, his parents agreed.

By now, Norman had put his alarm clock, a couple of posters and his laptop (yeah, I decided to give him one for the heck of it) in his taped of section of the living room. Right now, Perry was helping Norman build a canopy so that Norman could still have his own 'room'. Just as the canopy was set up, Norman realised that he had left something important up in his bedroom and had to get it before Aggie and his mum got home.

"Thanks for the help, dad!" Norman shouted quickly as he left the living room; leaving his father to finish putting up the canopy. Norman then quickly ran up the stairs, into his room, and to the closet in which his important item was kept. Norman then opened the closet and searched through it until he found what he was looking for; a locked box that said the words 'dear Aggie' on the top.

Inside the box were lots of love letters to Norman's new roommate; he had started writing them when he hit thirteen so he could express himself and get his feelings off his chest so there must've been about 100 separate letters in the box right now. The reason he was removing them from his room because said roommate was moving into HIS room temporarily and if she were to find the box, knowing Aggie, it would only be a certain amount of time until she used her witchy powers to open the lock and reveal Norman's secret. Honestly, he wasn't worried about what Aggie would think; he was worried about the fact that she might tell his parents that he had been writing love letters to her.

As Norman went down the stairs, secret box in hand, he stopped when he noticed his mother and his crush standing in the hallway, shopping bags in their hands. "Perry!" Sandra shouted out as both of the females looked for the bearded man. "I'm in here!" he called in response from the living room. Both girls walked in to find Perry struggling to stand on a ladder whilst holding a corner of Norman's canopy. "Err, Mr. Babcock, do you need some help?" Aggie asked, putting down her bags of shopping and preparing herself to aid the man. "No Agatha, I'm fine but I am a bit steamed that my son just left me here to do something else." It was at that moment that Norman poked his head through the doorway. "I thought you were done!" he shouted before he walked into the kitchen.

Even though he had kept it well hidden until he put it into his 'room', Norman didn't realise that whilst talking to his father in the doorway, Aggie had seen the box in his hands... and the writing on top of it...

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Byron White walked onto the roof of the "Wide spread" headquarters and went over to a helicopter that was ready to take Byron to his location; the pilot standing at the side. "You the pilot?" Byron asked him. The pilot looked up to see a man who looked to be in his late 30s – mid 40s, had brown eyes, short black hair with black sideburns and a small scar on his left eye; he was wearing an army uniform for disguise. "That depends; are you Mr. White?" the pilot asked. The mercenary nodded. "Then hop on; the boss says he wants you there 6:00am sharp, so we've only got..." the pilot paused to look at his watch. "9 hours and 40 minutes and it's going to take at least 8 hours to get there."

With that, Byron got into the back seat of the helicopter whilst the pilot got into the front and started up the engine. Just as the helicopter was taking off, unbeknownst to either of the passengers; a tall, lanky, skinny man with bright blue eyes, mop-like blonde hair and a nametag that said 'Dr. Crawden Babcock' on his lab coat threw a tracking device he had stolen from the company armoury onto the helicopter. With that done, the scientist went back inside to formulate a plan on how to rescue his nephew from the jaws of science.

After making his way back into the building from the roof, Dr. Crawden found himself at the front door to the office of his best friend; Professor Ryder Todd. Dr. Crawden then knocked and after hearing a quiet "come in", stepped inside to see his friend sitting at his desk. Ryder Todd looked up, revealing his black skinned face with brown eyes, black beard, moustache and short afro to look at his friend; he smiley happily.

"Dr. Babcock" Ryder said with a bit of friendly sarcasm. "To what have I done to deserve to be an audience to you?" Prof. Todd then took a closer look at his friend and realised he was sweating nervously and had a serious look on his face. Ryder's attitude immediately changed from humorous to concern. "Crawden, what's wrong?" he asked. "It's my nephew, Ryder." Crawden responded. "The company want him for something." Prof. Todd pulled out a pen and a pad of paper to take down notes. "What's your nephew's name?" he asked. "Norman Babcock."

Ryder wrote down the name so he wouldn't forget it and then typed his friend's nephew's name into the "Wide spread" database search. After a while of searching, Ryder 'ahhd' with wonder. "Ah yes, Mr. Norman Babcock. According to this, the company has been tracking his life activities for two years now; what do the company want him for, Crawden?"

Dr. Crawden sat down at the desk; his friend staring at him. "They want to experiment on him, Ryder; I have to stop them. I know I said five years ago that I would do anything in the name of science but I won't let a member of my family become a lab rat, especially here." Crawden leaned forward so he was face-to-face with his friend. "You know how far this company will go to get what it wants; I have to stop that mercenary." It was then that Ryder's eyes went wide. "MERCENARY!?" he shouted. "Who? Why?" he asked.

"The mercenary's name is Byron White. He's a rookie but the boss seems to have good faith in him which doesn't make me feel any better. You see Ryder, Norman has this... gift; he was born with it. I now believe that the boss wants Norman brought in to be experimented on so they can try and sell this worldwide. Bottom line Ryder is... I need your help." When those words escaped Crawden's lips, Ryder smiled brightly. "Anything for a friend. Come on, let's go save your nephew."

And with that, Dr. Crawden Babcock and Prof. Ryder Todd left the office; only Norman on their minds. As the two scientists were looking for a way to get to Massachusetts, Byron White was in a helicopter on his way there. As the helicopter went faster to catch up on time, the mercenary pulled out a picture from his pocket; the picture consisted of him and his wife; a women with red eyes and blonde hair.

"Don't worry Shannon, as soon as I complete this assignment, we'll have all the money we need. We'll get you that operation and you'll be all better again; I promise..."

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_(A/N – I'm sorry; I couldn't resist adding a bit of a sad storyline to the antagonist but to all you reviewers, I have a question about Byron White. You now all know his motives for taking on this assignment to capture Norman and I just want to ask you guys, do you feel sorry for him and do you truly think he is a bad man?)_


	4. Discovery

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 4 – Discovery**

It was now 11:30pm in the Babcock household in Blithe hollow, Massachusetts and almost everyone was asleep. Perry and Sandra were sleeping comfortably in their nice double bed, Courtney was snoozing in her pink bed inside in her pink room and surprisingly, Norman had managed to fall asleep on the couch with his canopy coating him in darkness. However, there was ONE member of the family who COULDN'T sleep and that person was Agatha Prenderghast.

In Norman's original domain laid the black haired girl; tossing and turning as she struggled to catch some shut eye. It wasn't that Norman's bed was uncomfortable; Agatha just couldn't sleep because she had something on her mind that she believed belonged to a special friend of hers. The focus of her mind was in fact her friend Norman's locked box that said 'Dear Aggie' on the top of it.

'Why would Norman keep a box addressed to me and then not give it to me? Maybe it's some sort of welcome back to the living gift!' Aggie began think positively but then looked at the possible negatives. 'Or what if it's something he could prank me with? I know its Norman but he IS a boy! Boys like pranks!' At this thought, Agatha decided that as soon as Norman left for school, the parents left for work and Courtney left to go flirt with some guy, she would have a look at the contents of the box.

_The next morning..._

"Come on Agatha, wake up. If you want to be part of this family, you at least have to get up at one point" Sandra said as she shook the newest family addition gently. Mumbling in her sleep at little, Agatha finally sat up; a smile on her beautiful (as Norman would say) face. "Good morning, Mrs. Babcock" Aggie said kindly. "Oh please Aggie, call me Sandra. You're a part of this family now so you don't have to call us by Mr., Mrs. or Miss. Now get up, breakfast will be ready in a moment." With that, Sandra began to leave the room but before she left, she turned back to the girl. "Oh and by the way, Norman's grandma is called Brenda." And with that, she left Aggie to get ready for the day ahead.

After getting dressed and 'doing things girls do', Aggie left her temporary room and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to find her new family. "Hey Aggie" Norman greeted. Agatha waved back and then took a seat at the kitchen table between Norman and Perry as Sandra began to give everyone their breakfast. This was when Aggie remembered her plan to look at

Norman's box. "So what are you all doing today? I mean, apart from Norman going to school?" she asked politely as she put a bit of buttered toast into her mouth. "Well I've going to my new job as a funeral planner for the Blithe Hollow church at 8:30" said Perry as he chewed on his bacon. Sandra then gave him a small slap on the arm for talking with his mouth and full and then said to Aggie "and I'm leaving at the exact same time to go to my job as a dentist." With this information in hand, Aggie turned to Courtney. "And what are you going to do today?" Aggie asked her. "Probably just go hang out with some guy" Courtney responded dully as she read her phone messages.

As the clock hit 8:00 and everyone finished breakfast, Courtney left straight away to be with her friends and said she wouldn't be back till about 6:00pm. As it reached 8:15, Norman said goodbye to his parents and Aggie before leaving to walk to school. Before Aggie knew it, the time was 8:25 and Norman's parents were standing at the door getting their shoes and coats on. Just as they were about to leave, they poked their heads in to the living room from the hallway to see Aggie simply sitting on the coach next to 'Brenda'. "Are you sure you'll be alright here on your own, honey?" Sandra called out to her. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me and besides, I've got Brenda to keep me safe and company" Aggie responded with a smile. "Alright but don't forget that if you need us, our mobile numbers are in the home phone and if you REALLY need him, Norman's is in there too" said Perry. Then with a goodbye wave and smile from all three, the two Babcock parents left.

After waiting for ten seconds after the door closed, Aggie jumped straight off the couch and practically dived into Norman's canopy covered part of the living room; grandma watching with wide eyes. After a while of searching around Norman's temporary room, Aggie walked out of the canopy with the locked box in her hands; grandma immediately frowned. "You know honey, just because your names on it doesn't mean it's yours to take; Norman might be planning on giving that to you in the future" she said. This however, was a lie for grandma knew what Norman kept in that box and was trying to save him the embarrassment and grief. Aggie just sighed at the comment. "I know, Brenda but ever since I saw the box in his hands yesterday I can't stop thinking about it!" she shouted as she shacked the box frantically; almost angry at it. "I really don't want to do this but I feel that I have to." And with that, Agatha left for the kitchen to examine the box. "Could've fooled me" said grandma glumly.

As Aggie took her seat at the now clean kitchen table, she put the box down and began to inspect the lock. After a while of inspection, Aggie just clicked her fingers and with a quick flash of yellow from her eyes, the lock unlocked itself and fell off. The girl then slowly and reluctantly opened the box and the first thing she saw was an envelope that said 'Dear Aggie' on it. Making sure that grandma was still on the couch, Aggie opened the first envelope and blushed at what the letter read.

"Oh my..."

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

After he watched the helicopter disappear into the distance, Byron White pulled his radio from his uniform belt so he could clearly listen to the transmission he was about to receive that he knew of due to the static before each transmission. "Base to Mr. White, Base to Mr. White" the man over the radio said. "Base, this is Byron White. I have just been dropped off by 'Super 64' on top of an abandoned warehouse in the village of Blithe Hollow; I am now ready to begin my search for the target."

"Ok Mr. White, the target's address is 64 Woodbury Street and his post code is EN4 9PW; type that into your record scanner and you will know the location of the target's house in no time." Byron reattached the radio to his belt for a second so he could put Norman's address and post code into his record scanner; it found the house in five seconds flat. Byron then pulled the radio from his belt again to speak into it. "Base, I have the target's home's location. I'm heading there now." Byron then put the radio back onto his belt expecting the man to break the connection but just as Byron was about to leave the roof of the warehouse, the man over the radio spoke again.

"Oh Mr. White, one more thing." Byron pulled the radio from his belt to respond. "I'm listening" he said. "Don't forget; you have permission to kill civilians if necessary." As he heard this statement, Byron White's expression turned sour for a while but he then remembered about his ill wife and turned serious again. "Y...Yes sir, I know" Byron responded. "Ok, what your back, Mr. White." And with that, the man at "Wide spread" HQ broke the connection.

As Byron White entered the abandoned warehouse from the roof, a second helicopter entered Blithe Hollow's friendly atmosphere. But this one did not contain a willing mercenary; it contained two protective scientists...


	5. Heartbreak

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 5 – Heartbreak**

After she read it, Aggie put the last love letter back into its envelope and slid it into the box before closing it and re-locking it with her witch powers. She then sighed as she remembered the way Norman had said those three little words in EVERY SINGLE LETTER. She had to admit, Norman had revealed to be quite 'romantic' in some of those letters and honestly, she didn't really mind that Norman had decided to express his feelings for her in the letters. However, what she DID mind about all this was the fact that...

She felt the same way about him.

Aggie almost cried at the fact that she couldn't be with the boy she had loved since he had saved her from her inner witch; the reason being was that Aggie was given another chance at life because she had been killed for something she hadn't done (accused of witchcraft, just had the same 'gift' as Norman) and so the keepers of the afterlife decided to give her another chance at life. They had however, mentioned that if Aggie did something ungodly or 'not right' at any point, the keepers of the afterlife would IMMEDIATELY take action and remove her from life and would make everyone she had met forget her.

As much as Aggie liked Norman, she didn't want to risk being with him in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship because she thought that because being in a relationship with a family member in her time wasn't allowed, the keepers of the afterlife wouldn't allow it now and so if she DID become Norman's girlfriend, she feared they would send her back to the afterlife. Aggie then decided that she would have to find Norman after school and let him down easy. She picked up the box and after walking to Norman's canopy in the living room, put it back where he had put it. As she was about to leave, she noticed Brenda shaking her head.

"I told you you should've waited but NO, no one EVER listens to old grandma."

* * *

_Later that day..._

It was now 3:45pm and Norman's school day had ended ten minutes before, forcing Aggie to make the move. Not wanting to deal with him JUST yet, Aggie picked up the phone and called Neil, Norman's best friend. After waiting for a few seconds while the phone dialled, Neil picked up. "Downe residence; Neil speaking" he said politely. "Hello Neil, my names Aggie; do you know who I am?" she responded. "Yeah, you're Norman's ghost friend but we've never actually met so why are you calling me?" he asked curiously. Agatha swallowed down the bulge in her throat as she said the words that would change everything in the end. "I need you to tell Norman something; can you do that for me please?" she asked. "Yeah, sure" said Neil. "What is it?" Aggie swallowed again. "C-Could you please tell him to go to 'Aggie's tree' right now? I have something important to tell him and I need to tell him in private." Neil was silent for a moment as if he was thinking it over. Finally, he responded. "Sure Aggie, I'll give him a call right now." Agatha sighed. "Thank you, Neil." And with that, she hung up.

At that moment, the door opened and Aggie thought that she had called Neil too late and started to panic; she stopped when she heard the bickering voices of Norman's parents. "I'm just saying Perry that she will probably have to go there because we can't have her with us, Courtney will torture us for the rest of our lives if we put her in her room and there is NO WAY she is sleeping on the couch!" Sandra shouted from the hallway. "But Sandra, Norman is a growing boy! Growing boys have... urges! And I don't exactly feel like being known as possibly the father to a pervert who abused his popularity after saving the city!" Aggie blushed when she realised what they were talking about; Aggie's future sleeping arrangements.

However, she had to agree with Sandra. She didn't exactly feel comfortable sleeping with the parents, Aggie had a feeling that being with Courtney would make being executed look good and if she slept on the couch, people would probably think she had scoliosis. If she was aloud, Aggie would have no objection at sharing a room with Norman; even if she had to sleep on the floor (she had pointed this out to them earlier but the parents had objected) because if she were to have a nightmare at some point or she just felt like it, she just crawl her way into Norman's cosy arms.

Aggie then shook her head to be rid of her blush and fantasy as the parents stepped into the living room. "Hello Aggie, did you have a nice day?" Sandra asked. "Err yes Sandra, I did. How were yours and Mr. Babcock's?" Perry seemed to frown a second for Aggie not using his name but quickly responded with "Not bad for a funeral planner, actually. I only had one to plan today and I made such a good impression on the boss that I'm being invited over to his house next week for dinner!" he exclaimed happily. Aggie was about to ask Sandra how her day went when she remembered she had to meet Norman by her tree. "I'm really sorry Sandra but you're going to have to tell me about your day when I get back; I have something really important to do." And with that, she was out the backdoor at a speed the roadrunner would be jealous of. "Probably meeting Norman for something" Perry said as he walked into the kitchen to prepare tea. As Sandra was about to join her husband, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to reveal a man with short black hair, brown eyes and a small scar across his left eye; he was wearing an American army uniform. "Excuse me soldier, can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes" the man said with a strong Australian accent. "Yes, you can."

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the woods..._

As Agatha ran through the woods to the tree that she was buried at, she was thinking of a way to try and let Norman down easy. She still wanted to be his friend but she also wanted to make clear that they couldn't be a couple if she wanted to stay among the living, no matter how much they might love each other. As the tree came into her sight, Aggie could also see the red of Norman's hoodie and his spiky hair; she purposely slowed down her speed as she got closer and closer.

When Norman was just a few feet away with his back to her, Aggie suddenly lost all her confidence and honestly, she would've turned around and left if she hadn't accidently stepped on a twig; alerting Norman to her presence. "Aggie" he said as he turned around to face her. "You wanted to talk to me? Privately?" Agatha sighed sadly; she had to do it now. Not wanting to beat around the bush, she dived straight in. "Norman, I know what you keep in that locked box." As soon as those words left her mouth, Norman blushed deeply and began to twist his foot into the ground. "Oh, really?" he asked. She simply nodded in response. "Oh. So... do you hate me now?" he asked fearfully. "No! I don't hate you!" Aggie shouted. "But you have to know that we can't be together." Norman just grew sadder. "Is it because we're related? Like you're my cousin like... 10 times removed or something?" As his question was heard, Aggie couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears. "I'm sorry Norman, I'm so sorry!" And with that, she used her witch powers to disappear from Norman's sight.

"Aggie! Aggie, come back! We can sort this out!" Norman called frantically but there was no response. Feeling tears of rejection coming to his eyes, Norman turned to head home but was stopped when his mobile phone rang; the caller ID said it was his sister, Courtney. "What do you want, Courtney?" he asked annoyed as he answered.

"Hello, Norman."

Norman froze. That was NOT the voice of someone he knew for this voice was deep and Australian.

"Who is this?" Norman asked, almost threateningly. "It's not your sister it's THAT what you're thinking... and you should really watch your tone. Listen, you don't know me but I know you and that's all that really matters."

"Your family is fine but if I were you, I'd choose my next words very carefully..."

* * *

_(A/N – Norgatha fans, don't lose hope in this story! Aggie WILL return and I can guarantee that I wrote her little disappearance act on purpose for the plot of the story. A little warning for you guys, the next few chapters are going to be considered quite dark compared to these last ones and when I say dark, I don't mean horror and torture I mean violence and gory action._

_Here is a little preview of the next chapter known as 'the infected'..._

"_As Aggie raised her head from the sight of the ground, she felt tears come to her eyes at the sight of the village that she had called home..._

_For Blithe Hollow had been reduced to ruin._

_Cars were crashed or on fire, buildings were either destroyed or partly beat in, blood was splattered almost everywhere you looked and villager's bodies scattered the ground..."_

_So there's your preview! Hope it's got you wanting more!_

_BTW, now that I amk halfway through this story, I have put up a poll for you guys to vote on what story I do next! PLEASE vote on it! PLEASE!)_


	6. The infected

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 6 – The infected**

Agatha Prenderghast looked around at her surroundings. By the look of it, she had teleported herself into a mist-covered landscape which was so thick that she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. Despite the terrible weather conditions, Aggie began to walk forward into the unknown for she was determined to get as far away from Blithe Hollow as she could; away from Norman.

Even if there WAS a way for her and Norman to be together, Aggie couldn't go back to the village now for she knew that as soon as she teleported from his sights, she had broken his heart. Aggie couldn't go back because she knew what pain Norman would feel if he saw her again because she had said that they couldn't be together; she slowly began to regret those words.

Agatha suddenly heard a voice calling out to her from the distance through the mist. "Turn back" the voice said. For some reason, Aggie couldn't help but feel that the voice sounded just a wee bit... familiar. As she turned around to proceed further, Aggie knocked into someone else. The person was wearing a maid's outfit and had a smile on a face that Aggie knew all too well. "Mommy?"

At those words, the women hugged Agatha tightly; she returned it without hesitation. "What do I do, mommy?" Aggie asked. The women released her from the embrace, looked her daughter in the eyes and said "Turn back". At this, Aggie felt tears come to her eyes but did not dare release them. "I-I can't, mom. You saw the look on Norman's face. I can't go back there; I've broken his heart." In response, the women got on one knee to look her daughter in the eyes (Aggie's mom is quite tall) and said "that was not a suggestion, Agatha. It was an order; you WILL turn back."

Even if she was talking to her mother, Aggie couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. "Mom, I CAN'T!" the young girl shouted. "I don't even know where I've teleported myself! How am I meant to get back even if I wanted to!?" Her mother sighed as if to calm herself down and when she opened her eyes, Aggie saw a glint of horror in them.

"Dear daughter, you don't have a choice; you HAVE to go back to Blithe Hollow. Since the time you've been gone, something terrible has happened and my senses tell me that YOU are destined to fix it. And as for the 'I don't even know where I am' thing; you're witch powers teleported you to the afterlife on instinct so you could talk to me." Aggie's mother put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "You MUST go back, Agatha. For me, For Norman."

At this, Aggie nodded slowly and the mist around the pair began to disappear as did Aggie's mother. "WAIT!" Aggie called. "How will I get back to the village?" her mother smiled brightly. "It'll be okay darling, your witch powers will take you back to the village centre but you must know ONE very important thing." Aggie gave her mother a stare telling her to 'go on'. "The time span of the afterlife is much different to that of the livings. Here, only 5 minutes have passed but in reality, a whole 2 weeks would have gone by; just thought you should know that. Good luck, Aggie." And with that, Agatha landed on her knees on a rock surface.

As Aggie raised her head from the sight of the ground, she felt tears come to her eyes at the sight of the village that she had called home...

For Blithe Hollow had been reduced to ruin.

Cars were crashed or on fire, buildings were either destroyed or partly beat in, blood was splattered almost everywhere you looked and villager's bodies scattered the ground.

Tears began to fall down her face like waterfalls as Aggie stood to her feet and began walking around; staring at everything in wonder. Her mother had said that something bad had happened to the village and that Aggie would be the one to put things right but she didn't think things would be THIS bad. As Aggie passed by the old witch's statue (which she still despised greatly), she heard the static of a radio. She looked in the direction of the sound to see the radio in the palm of a dead villager. Slowly and reluctantly whilst having her eyes closed, Aggie took the radio from the villager's cold hand and spoke into it.

"H-Hello?" she asked into the radio. "You all right there? No shakes? Chills?" replied a male voice. "Ok listen to me and listen carefully; by your expression at all that I would be one to suggest that you have no idea what's happened, correct?" Aggie looked around to see if anyone was watching her; not a single living person in sight. "T-That's right, I have no idea what's going on" Aggie replied. "Listen, I'll explain everything soon but right now, we have to get you to safety. See that church ahead of you?" the man asked. Aggie raised her head slightly and saw the church instantly. "Yes" she said. "If you had a telescope, you'd see me standing on the roof. Ok now, you just make your way here and I'll guide you. Oh and be quick." The man then cut the connection.

Whilst looking at her surroundings to be sure nothing was watching her, Aggie slowly walked through the streets of Blithe Hollow which lead to the village church. When she was about half a mile away, Aggie began to think about her 'family'. What had happened to the Babcocks? Were they at the Church? Were they at their home? Were they even alive? Agatha's thoughts were cut off when a blood-curdling battle cry of a scream went through the air. Suddenly, the man called her on the radio.

"It's the infected! Run; run for the church!"

Without a second thought, Aggie began running for a life in the direction of the church. She ran and ran as fast as she could; determined to get away from the thing that had let the blood-curdling battle cry loose into the air. When she was about a minutes sprint from the church's gates, Aggie looked behind her and her eyes bulged in horror as she saw a man sprinting after her; screaming in utter madness. The man had bloodshot dark red eyes and his skin was the colour of a raincloud; his cloths were covered in the blood of others. Now knowing that a madman was after her, Agatha's legs seemed to shift into the next gear as she sprinted faster. As she was barely a few feet from the church's gates, a woman with the same eyes and skin colour as the man jumped out from behind a wrecked car and after screaming her own battle cry, hit Agatha around the head with a monkey wrench. Before passing out, Aggie could've sworn she saw the two mad people topple over onto their sides after something passed through their skulls...

* * *

_Later that day..._

With the strongest of headaches, Agatha began to wake up. Her head felt like it was on fire from when the mad woman hit her on the head with the wrench. As soon as she sat up, Aggie noticed a man sitting in a chair next to the bed she was in. He was wearing a lab coat on top of all his other clothes and his blonde hair was in a mop style; his bright blue stood out greatly from his tall, lanky and skinny body. As soon as the man saw Aggie, he smiled a small smile and stood up before walking over to her bedside.

"Hello there" he said simply. "My name's Dr. Crawden, what's your name?" he asked. "A-Agatha" she replied quickly. As soon as he heard her name, Crawden sighed. "Well if that is your name then you're going to have to wait here a moment whilst I go get some people; they've been worried sick about a certain 'Agatha' or 'Aggie". The doctor who could pass for a janitor the left whilst Aggie simply looked around the room at her surroundings; by the looks of the decorations in the room; she was in the church and someone had saved from the mad people. A few moments later, Dr. Crawden returned with Sandra, Courtney and Perry Babcock by his side, they were all smiling greatly.

"Aggie!" Sandra shouted as she went to hug her 'daughter' with which she returned tightly. "We're so glad you're safe" Perry said from the doorway. As soon as Sandra let go off her, Aggie looked around and noticed that Norman was not in the room. "Where-where's Norman?" she asked; both parents and sister frowned in response. "Could you give us a moment alone please?" Perry asked Dr. Crawden and Courtney who after the request left the room and shut the door. As the two parents pulled up some chairs to Aggie's bedside, she could've sworn she saw Sandra wiping away a few tears. "Ok" Perry started. "What do you wanna know?"

"Ok. 1. Who was that man in the doorway, 2. What happened to Blithe Hollow and 3. Where is Norman?" she asked as if her life depended on it. Perry cleared his throat and began to answer the first question. "The man's name, as you know is Crawden; he is my brother and works for a worldwide company called 'Wide spread'. He's the one who was contacting you over the radio whilst you were out in the streets AND he's the one who saved your life from those people." As Aggie was about to ask who the people were, Perry raised his hand to stop her. "Let me explain; this ties in with the other questions..."

* * *

"_I suppose you could say it started two weeks ago when this man came knocking at our door just after you left; he simply asked if we was Norman Babcock's family and after we said yes, he pulled a gun out on us and held us captive in our home. Next, he had Sandra call Courtney and tell her to come home to which she reluctantly agreed. As soon as Courtney came into the house, the man pointed the gun at her an had her give him her phone to call Norman so he could 'get his job done'. I remember the conversation EXACTLY because he put the phone on speaker so we could listen in._

"_What do you want, Courtney?" Norman had asked and "Hello, Norman" was how the man replied. There was silence for a moment before Norman said "Who is this?" in a pitch very unlike him. The man told him that it wasn't his sister and that he should watch his tone; plus that for now, we were fine but Norman should choose his next words very carefully. After they had arranged a meeting point, the man took me, Sandra and Courtney with him to your tree, which Norman was sat at. As soon as we came into his view, Norman sprung up and began arguing with the man, who had finally revealed himself as a Mr. Byron White; a merc who works for the same company as Crawden. For a while, everything seemed calm but when Byron pointed the gun at Sandra's temple, something... changed inside my son; something snapped."_

"_His eyes turned yellow, his skin and hair went dark green and his clothing went to a moss green shade; not to mention that his hair was like static electricity. Suddenly, he released some sort of shock wave from his body which passed over me, Sandra and Courtney fine; Byron seemed effected but not much and everyone else... what I'm trying to say Agatha is that... Norman's gone."_

* * *

At those words, all three of them burst into tears. From Perry's description, Aggie came to the conclusion that Norman's anger against Byron White was too much for him to control and he released his inner witch but despite everything, there was still something Aggie didn't get: what happened to the villagers? "Err, Sandra?" Aggie asked. "Yes dear? Sandra replied through tears. "Can you tell me what happened to the villagers? I don't understand." At this, both parents stopped crying and turned serious before Perry stood up, opened the door and called "Crawden, you're needed." Almost at will, the doctor re-entered the room; a knowing frown placed upon his face. "I guess she wants to know about the villagers?" he asked to which the parents simply nodded. They then left the room and shut the door before Dr. Crawden took one of the seats that the parents had been sat in and looked at Aggie with honest eyes.

"They're called the infected; at least that's what we call them. They're the victims of that shockwave that my nephew sent out from his body when his inner Witch was able to take over his mind. The shockwave was made of what we call 'death energy'; the reason we call it that is because those who are hit by the shockwave would be given the gift to see the dead.

Or at least, that what would happen with you or Norman."

"Turns out only people with a certain body chemistry mix can have this gift. Anyone who doesn't gets turned into one of those... things out there. Those in our family are able to fight this... mutagen with no problem what so ever. All the others here in the church are only alive thanks to their strong immune systems, those with weaker ones... weren't so lucky; they became... infected.

There are two types of infected; the warriors and the officers. The type that you encountered out there is the warrior infected; they were victims of the shockwave who had blood groups A or B. They have no self control; they just wanna... kill anyone who's not like them. They'll use anything they can get their hands on to kill you from guitars and pipes to knives and trophies. They've lost practically all their humanity.

The other type of infected are the officers; they are the victims who have a blood group of Ab or O. Unlike their suicidal counterparts, these ones have a bit of humanity still left in them. They still want to kill everyone but they have a bit of self control. This type IS able to communicate with us through language and they tend to kill us at range with firearms instead of CQC style with a melee weapon. However, they WILL if they have to."

Dr. Crawden took a breather after his long speech and looked at Agatha; who was simply looking at the masses of destruction outside the window. "Agatha, I believe that there IS a way to fix this and we WILL find it but until that time comes, I hope you're ready to take an inhuman life because...

We humans and the infected are at war..."

* * *

_(A/N – Just a quick notice – because the 'infected' will be mentioned so much in the next few chapters, I will not even be describing their clothing so YOU can choose the clothing of them for yourselves unless I point out a certain infected's appearance)._


	7. Our only hope

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 7 – our last hope**

The rain finally began to descend from the night sky onto the now destroyed village of Blithe hollow as Agatha Prenderghast sat within the only safe place there was left that was the village church. It had been 2 hours since Norman's parents had told her about Norman and Dr. Crawden had told her about the infected villagers turned killers and currently, the young teenage girl was quietly sitting on her bed and quietly sobbing whilst Dr. Ryder Todd was applying a bandage to her head injury.

"Don't worry, little girl" Ryder said; trying to stop Agatha's tears. "This will all be over soon; Dr. Crawden will come up with a plan to save your friend and stop this madness; I'm sure of it." The reason Dr. Ryder was referring to Norman was because everyone in the church believed that Agatha was upset over the fact that Norman was gone and he was the only one who ever understood her like she did him, but the real reason was something that no one would've guessed.

Aggie blamed herself.

Agatha's tears had began falling since Dr. Crawden left her after telling her about the infected and by the looks of her, she wasn't going to stop crying any time soon. The reason was because Aggie felt responsible for all of this happening because the truth was she HAD indirectly caused the whole problem. When she broke Norman's heart by disappearing before he was called by Byron White, Norman began to experience so MUCH emotional discomfort that it was enough to awaken his dormant witch powers that he had inherited from Aggie. With the powers no longer dormant, Norman just needed a little push to spark everything off and Byron White had done just that so as much as Agatha pained to admit, she felt she had to accept that she was just as responsible for the Blithe Hollow infection as Byron White was.

Agatha's train of thought was interrupted when Dr. Ryder pulled a knot into her bandage, earning a small gasp of pain from the girl. "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you" the doctor said sincerely. "It's okay, I'm fine" Aggie replied. Suddenly, a flash of lightning and bang of thunder caused both of them to look at of the window and at the dark night sky. "Little girl, I think it would be a good idea if you could try get some rest; you look like you need it" said Dr. Ryder. Agatha nodded in response as she had not slept in quite a while and began to get into the bed. As Dr. Ryder closed the door and she was about to fall asleep almost instantly, Agatha heard a scream of horror and two gunshots. She immediately bolted up from the bed to look at the window where she saw a normal looking man holding a calibre revolver standing in the rain, his back to the church's protective spike fence.

"Help me!" the man shouted. "Somebody help me, please!" Agatha then noticed three infected people, one man and two women. At the same time, all three let out screams of battle and began to sprint towards the normal man. On instinct, the man shot a bullet from his gun, killing one of the infected women as the bullet passed through her skull. As the man pulled the safety to shoot again, the infected man picked up a glass bottle from the ground and threw it at the normal man, causing it to break and allowing the glass to slash at his skin.

The normal man pulled the trigger again whilst the gun was pointed at the infected man and the bullet passed right through his throat. As the infected man began to die of blood loss from his throat wound, the normal man noticed that the other infected woman had disappeared. Suddenly, said infected woman appeared from behind the normal man and cut off his head with a machete. She then drove the machete into the now dead man's head and lifted it high to the sky before letting out a scream of victory. As the woman ran off with her prize, Agatha simply walked back to her bed from the window, the whole time only thinking four words over and over...

'What have I done?'

* * *

_A few hours later..._

Agatha rubbed her eyes as she sat up from the bed she had been sleeping in. At first, Agatha hoped it had all been a dream but that thought was crushed when she noticed the man's body from the night before, head missing as it had been stolen. After sulking a bit longer for the whole thing that had happened, Aggie stood up from her bed and opened the door to leave the room. As she stepped out, Aggie found herself in the main hall (you know, the hall with the rows of seats). She looked around and immediately noticed Norman's family (Crawden not included) sitting in one of the rows of seats praying whilst Dr. Crawden and Dr. Ryder standing at the altar looking at a map of Blithe Hollow. After another search around the room, Aggie noticed Neil sitting in one of the rows of seats on his own. Thinking that he was depressed, the girl went over to the boy.

"Hi Neil" Aggie said as she reached where he was sitting. "Hi" Neil said simply and quickly, clearly depressed. "What's wrong, Neil? You helped me earlier with Norman so I want to help you now." At that moment, tears began to fall from Neil's eyes in waterfalls. "M-M-Mitch... he didn't m-m-make it" Neil said, stuttering from his tears. Aggie raised her hand to her mouth to cover her gapping mouth. "Oh Neil, how?" she asked. "That's j-j-just it; he died saving me." Neil then stopped crying and wiped away his tears so he could explain to his new friend.

"My house was one of the first to get attacked by the infected; we had no idea at the time so we didn't stand a chance. Mum and dad were already here, collecting our new copies of the bible so they were okay but me and Mitch were at the house. They just attacked out of nowhere; it scared the hell out of us. As we went to the backyard, they managed to break through the windows and break down the door." Neil started to cry again but held it in. "Suddenly, Mitch went 'big bro' mode and tossed me over the fence so I would be safe and he began to climb over. But then, they grabbed him and pulled him back off the fence. When they did, I immediately ran over to the little hole in the fence to see an infected woman stab a knife into his throat."

Aggie was absolutely DEVESTATED compared to what she was yesterday. Thanks to her partly causing the whole thing, the only person she could call a friend had lost his big brother to the infected. As Aggie was about to hug Neil out of comfort, Dr. Ryder raised his hand for everyone to see; telling them to be quiet. When there was complete silence, everyone could the sound of machine gunfire in the distance. "That's gunfire!" Dr. Ryder shouted. "Everyone, get down!" he shouted again as him and Dr. Crawden both ran over to the windows by the main church doors; both carrying sniper rifles.

At the order, all the survivors huddled together in their own separate groups, leaving Aggie and Neil to go with the Babcocks. Everyone then quietened down as Dr. Crawden turned off the lights and hid behind a stone pillar, sniper rifle in hand. Half a minute later, the silence was interrupted as the main doors creaked open and someone in a yellow complete hazmat suit stepped in; he was holding some type of machine gun. As the door shut behind the person, Dr. Crawden turned the lights on and moved from behind the pillar to point the sniper rifle at the now worried person. "Put the gun down" Crawden ordered to which the person complied. Dr. Crawden stepped forward to taunt the person but lowered the rifle when he saw the logo on the hazmat suit. "You're military."

At this, all the survivors stood up to look at the hazmat soldier. "Yes, I am" the person said as they removed their mask, revealing them to be a white skinned man with dyed silver hair and sapphire eyes. "My name is Brendan Vulka; I'm the leader of ECHO squad for the W.S.D.C." At this, one of the survivors watching called out "W.S.D.C? What does that stand for?" Dr. Crawden and Dr. Ryder both looked at the survivor who spoke before Ryder said "Wide Spread disease control." Dr. Crawden took a long, hard look at Brendan before speaking. "Take a seat" he said. "We'll figure out what to do with you when we're done." At the order, Brendan picked up his machine gun, gave it to Ryder to take and walked off to sit in one of the rows of seats. As Ryder walked off with Brendan's gun, Crawden called out to Aggie "Hey, you got a minute? We need to speak with you". This earned him a look a worry from the girl.

* * *

As Dr. Crawden looked through the weapons many survivors had managed to scavenge lay out on the altar table, Aggie went over the plan that Crawden had come up with one more time. Crawden said that because Aggie and Norman had the same abilities and blood, if Aggie were to be able to talk to him, she might be able to calm him down like he had done to her 2 years ago; the hard part was getting to Aggie's tree with all the infected roaming the streets. As Aggie finished going over the plan, Dr. Ryder and Brendan stepped over to them.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Brendan asked Dr. Crawden. "Yes" he replied. "We figured out a way to possibly save everyone. You see this girl?" Crawden asked, pointing at Aggie; Brendan nodded. "This girl has the same ability to talk to the dead as the boy who's in control of the infected; we believe that if this girl can get a chance to talk to this boy then she might be able to save us all." At this, Brendan looked confused. "So what do you need me for?" he asked; Crawden sighed.

"The infected won't see her as a leader like they do with the boy; they'll still attempt to attack her." Dr. Ryder chose to butt in. "Basically, she needs an escort" he said; hoping he cleared things up a bit more for the soldier. "So you want me to escort her to where she needs to be, protecting her from the infected?" he asked. "Not JUST you" Crawden said in response. "Me and Ryder are going as well. Back at the Wide spread HQ; we were quite high ranking in combat training so we think we can help. However, if you would help as well, we would be truly grateful."

Brendan looked at the two doctors and Aggie before picking up the machine gun he had brought with him that had been laid out on the table and removing the safety. He then smiled proudly and said

"Where do I sign up?"

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_(A/N – Guys, I so far only have ONE vote on my poll for what story I'm going to do next so I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say that if I don't get votes soon, I am going to DISCONTINUE this story until I get votes!)_


	8. The road to the tree

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 8 – The road to the tree**

_(A/N – Because "Curse of the Gam-gul" is the story on my poll that so far has the most votes, I've decided to add a little Coraline Easter egg in this chapter for you guys to find. After you've read through this chapter, put into a review what you think the Easter egg is and next chapter, you'll find out if you were right!)_

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Agatha Prenderghast released a sigh from her throat as she looked out of one of the church's main hall windows as she waited for her escort team to finish preparation. It had been settled only a couple of hours ago that both Dr. Crawden and Dr. Ryder would tag along to protect Aggie on the journey with Brendan Vulka leading the escort because of his military rank which is actually quite ironic since it was Crawden and Ryder who had asked HIM to join THEM on the escort.

In case the infected were too much for her three guardians to handle at any moment, Aggie had had to change her clothing to protect herself. She still wore her puritan shoes but instead of her favourite black dress, she now wore a melee vest underneath a black female tank top where as for her lower half, she was wearing black running shorts so if she had no other choice and had to make a run for it, she would at least have a CHANCE at escaping the infected. To protect herself in case she was attacked and her three protectors were occupied, Dr. Crawden made sure that Aggie at least had a knife on her.

Just as Aggie turned away from the devastation that she could see outside, she caught sight of her three protectors. Brendan Vulka now wore a bullet-proof vest over his hazmat suit and Aggie could just barely see from where she stood that he had attached a silencer to his M16 burst rifle machine gun. Dr. Crawden and Dr. Ryder now both wore melee vest over their shirts and ties instead of lab coats where as for their weapons, Dr. Crawden had a machete and silenced M1911 pistol whilst Dr. Ryder had two tomahawks. Aggie had to admit, those three looked like they were ready for war.

The three people devoted to protecting the girl walked over to her looking like they were ready to go and get the experience over with. "You ready, little girl?" Brendan asked her. Aggie looked down at the ground before replying "Yeah, just a bit shaken up at what we're about to do." Dr. Crawden took a step further before putting his hand on Agatha's shoulder in comfort. "Don't worry, Aggie" he said. "This is for the best. If we can get you to Norman and you calm him down then this will all be over; everything will be better again." Dr. Crawden removed his hand from Aggie's shoulder when he saw her smile. "Now why don't you go say goodbye to your family?" Dr. Ryder asked in a strict tone. "You need to let them know it won't be your last."

At the strict order, Aggie walked away from her group of guardians and over to her family, who were sitting in one of the rows of seats with Neil. As soon as Perry looked up from the ground and saw Aggie in her new attire, he felt tears come to his eyes. "Good luck" he said whilst Sandra hugged the girl. "Don't worry; I'll bring him back and we'll be a family again." As Aggie turned to leave, Sandra put her hand on her shoulder to stop the puritan girl in her tracks. "Aggie" Sandra said slowly. "Before you leave, me and Perry need to speak with you privately." Aggie turned around and gave her adoptive mother a weary look before she said "ok."

When the group of three were in a more hidden part of the church's main hall, Sandra and Perry just looked at each other before Sandra turned her vision to Aggie and spat it out. "Aggie, we know how you and our son feel about each other; we've known for some time now." When the parents looked at her, they noticed that she was staring at the ground; almost in disappointment. "Well" Sandra continued. "We just want to say that... if that is how you both feel then... we aren't gonna stop you." At this, Aggie raised her head where the parents could see a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Aggie, everyone knows that being in... THAT type of relationship with a family member isn't allowed but you and Norman are like what? Cousins ten times removed? It doesn't really matter" said Perry; trying to help the situation. "So if you want to be with him in... THAT way" Sandra continued for her husband. "Then you're gonna have to bring him back here so we can watch him be happy."

At that comment, Aggie randomly ran up to her crush's parents and gave them both a tight squeeze which they gladly returned. "Don't worry" she said through a few small sobs. "I'll bring him back for you two AND for me; I promise." As the three gave each other one last hug, Aggie's attention was drawn by a whistle from Dr. Crawden. "It's time, Aggie" he called. Aggie turned back to Sandra and Perry and after giving them both one last caring stare, left them to join her guardians. As soon as she was with them, Brendan opened the main church and the group of four walked out of their sanctuary of protection and into no man's land.

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"Let's get moving; staying in the same place for too long is a mistake" Brendan said as the church's fence gate closed behind them. After about ten seconds of silence, the group got into their 'triangle of safety', which had Aggie in the centre of the triangle like shape that the three guardians formed. "I'll lead the way; you two watch her back and I'll watch yours." Brendan then proceeded to move through the destroyed village with his assault rifle raised and the other three behind him. Two minutes into the journey, the group heard their first infected's battle scream.

The entire group turned their heads left to see an infected man with only his fists to fight with running their way. "I've got him" Dr. Crawden said, drawing his machete. As soon as the infected man was in Crawden's range, the doctor brought the machete downwards straight into the infected man's head, killing him instantly. After Crawden kicked the dead man away and onto the ground, the group walked on as if nothing had even happened. A few minutes later, an infected woman came running at the group with a meat cleaver in her right hand. As if on instinct, Ryder threw one of his two tomahawks at the woman who after letting out a small cry of defeat; fell silent. Suddenly, about ten battle screams at once filled the air.

"Oh no" said Brendan. "That's a lot of them; we might not be able to take them all." Dr. Crawden was however not listening to the W.S.D.C soldier because he was too busy loading his handgun. "We can and we will" was what he said as he raised his gun to the direction of where the screams came from. As Brendan pointed his gun where Crawden's was pointing, about ten infected men and women came around the corner, all screaming bloody murder and holding weapons of all sorts. As Brendan and Crawden opened fire with their silenced firearms, Dr. Ryder used his two tomahawks to kill any extra infected that would spring from the sides or behind. Because her three guardians were so busy killing the infected, Aggie was the only one to hear the scream of an infected man from behind her. Aggie turned around to see an infected person sprinting at her with a blood-covered pipe in their hand; you couldn't see his face cause of the mask he was wearing but Aggie was pretty sure it was a male. The infected person seemed only about 13 from their height, they wore a black coat with silver stripes along with their mask which had a skull painted on it and pair of jeans with blood-covered shoes beneath them. Having no choice in the matter, Aggie drew her knife and after mentally apologising to the person, threw it into one of the eye holes of the mask; allowing the knife to go through the person's eye and into their brain. "Aggie!" She heard Brendan call. Aggie turned around to see her three guardians, each standing by a couple of now dead infected. Brendan walked towards the girl and after examining her 'handy work', pulled the knife from its victim's skull and handed it back to its owner.

"That's some good aim there" Brendan complimented. "Thanks" Aggie said in response. "Come on, you two" Crawden interrupted. "We should get going before we show up." As the group turned to continue their journey, someone ran across the road right in front of them but the thing was it wasn't an infected person, it was a survivor; one the group hoped was dead.

It was Byron White.

As soon as the mercenary saw the group, he opened fire with his handgun which led the group to taking cover behind one of the destroyed cars. After Byron had wasted a whole clip of bullets trying to kill the group, he ran the rest of the way across the road and disappeared from the hero's sights. As soon as the group were sure he was gone, Brendan turned strictly serious. "We've got to get after him; RIGHT NOW" he said whilst walking to where Byron had gone. "Are you insane?!" Ryder shouted. "He tried to kill us on sight; we're not saving him!" At this, Brendan turned around with a look of almost anger on his face. "Save him!?" he shouted in disbelief. "We're not gonna SAVE him, we have to STOP him! Because my group wasn't able to save him he's calling in the bombers; THERMAL NECULER TERMINATION! We have to stop him if we want ANY chance of saving this village!" Whilst in shock, Aggie, Crawden and Ryder sprinted after Brendan who ran in the direction Byron had gone.

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After running for about five minutes, the group stopped at a fence gate which led the courtyard of the old abandoned warehouse. Brendan then looked through the fence to see Byron White about to leave in the helicopter Brendan and his team had arrived in. "He's trying to escape" Brendan told the group. "I'll find another spot outside the fence where I can get a clean shot at him; keep him distracted for a while." And with that, Brendan ran off; leaving the other three to confront White.

Without even thinking of a plan, all three immediately stepped into the courtyard after opening the fence gate. When Ryder accidentally stepped on a bit of glass, Byron was alerted to their presence and turned to point his gun at them. After seeing Dr. Crawden, he smirked. "So" he stared. "You came all this way to save your nephew even with the village in this state, huh? You must be a very protective uncle." At the taunt, Crawden became angry.

"What are you trying to do, Byron?" Crawden shouted. The mercenary then stopped smirking and began scowling. "I shouldn't have to explain myself to you" he replied, emphasising the 'you' by moving the gun in Crawden's direction. Seeing how this situation could quickly turn bad, Dr. Ryder tried to calm everything down. "Look Byron you don't have to take us with you, we've got a mission anyway but you can still take others! We've got a whole group of survivors at the church!" As Ryder tried to step forward, Byron pointed the gun at him instead. "Take one more step and you're dead." Byron white then removed what appeared to be keys from his back pocket.

"Look I have the keys to the chopper, alright? I'm gonna go back to 'Wide spread' HQ and I'm gonna have them tell the army. We'll send reinforcements; we'll save EVERYONE!" This lie only made Crawden more enraged. "WITH A NECLUER BOMB!?" He shouted. "Brendan Vulka told us your plan; you're gonna kill everyone!" Knowing he had been found out, Byron pointed the gun away from Ryder and back at Crawden. "Then maybe I should start with you!" After his threat was spoken, Byron's scowl was replaced with a frown. "Look, I have no choice here, right? Look, this 'infection' threatens the entire bloody world; Blithe Hollow is lost either way!" At this, Aggie stepped forward with one of Ryder's tomahawks in her hand.

"It's easy to kill loads of faceless nobodies, isn't it!?" She shouted at the mercenary whilst small amounts of tears fell down her face. "Stay back!" Byron ordered. "They hardly seem human!" Aggie continued, ignoring Byron's order. "Stop!" Byron ordered again; now pointing the gun at Aggie. At this, Aggie stopped for a moment and then suddenly, she tossed the tomahawk...

At the helicopter's control panel; rendering it useless.

"NOOOO!" Byron shouted as sparks flew from the helicopter. Now stuck in the infected village, Byron angrily pointed the gun at Aggie again. "You son of a bitch! You're gonna pay..." Byron's sentence was stopped by his scream of pain as a bullet from Brendan's machine gun passed through his leg and he fell to the floor; his gun sliding away from him. Frowning, Crawden simply picked up Byron's gun and left the courtyard to find Brendan, Aggie and Ryder following closely behind as Byron pleaded for them to help him.

After Ryder closed the fence gate, him, Crawden and Aggie heard footsteps and turned to see Brendan with his serious face on. "He was right about one thing" he started; referring to Byron White. "Currently, Blithe Hollow is lost. If not him then soon, someone else will send a nuke with our name on it. The quicker we get Aggie to Norman; the better." With that, the group of four continued on their journey whilst in the courtyard, Byron White cried tears of despair as the infected slowly moved in for another kill...

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_(A/N – Okay, I've got TWO things to tell you guys._

_1. Do you think you found the Coraline Easter egg? If so, put what you think it was in a review and find out next chapter if you were right!_

_2. If you want to vote on my poll but don't have a FanFiction account, tell me what option of the poll you want to vote for in a review and I'll create another account to vote for you)._


	9. The final test

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 9 - the final test**

_(A/N – The answer for the Coraline Easter egg in the last chapter was that the infected person Aggie killed was described to look like Wybie Lovat. Congrats to all you readers out there who guessed correctly!)_

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Silence had just again dawned over the group of four people who had been walking through the forest that held the infected's controller; a puritan girl leading the way with two doctors and a soldier in a hazmat suit following close behind. The reason for the silence was simple – each and every one of these people couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt over what they had just done; even if it was against the man who had partly stared this whole fiasco.

Everyone felt guilt at leaving Byron White for dead.

The guilt had started showing in each person as the mercenary's screams filled the air as infected villagers found the Australian and began to punch him, cut him and hurt him with all sorts of things. However, the guilt had reached its height in each person as the sound of a chainsaw was heard and a few seconds later, the sound of cutting flesh. It was only a few seconds later when the group reached the edge of the forest that Byron's screams stopped and about 20 different cries of victory filled the air; along with a stronger scent of the blood that flows through everyone.

And here they were half an hour later. After much thinking about the matter, Aggie stopped in her tracks; her three guardians stopping behind her. "We shouldn't have done that" she said. "We had to" Crawden stated. "It was him or us; he had a gun pointed at our foreheads." Silent tears began to fall down Aggie's face as she remembered the expression of Byron's face as she and the others closed the gate to the warehouse courtyard. "It doesn't matter; us leaving him... we're no different than... them" Aggie replied.

Suddenly, to the other threes shock, Brendan grabbed the puritan girl by her arms and forced her against a tree whilst Crawden pointed his gun at the doctor; when Aggie saw the look on Brendan's face, she saw anger."Vulka, don't be a fool" Ryder said, trying to get the soldier to let the girl go. "I'll shoot you; don't think I won't! She's our only hope now LET HER GO!" Dr. Crawden shouted whilst pointing his gun at Brendan for effect. A few seconds later, Brendan slowly and calmly released his grip on Aggie's arms. Crawden then lowered his gun and was about to give the soldier a warning when said man pointed in Aggie's face. "Don't you EVER compare us to them" he ordered her. "We are NOTHING like them!" Brendan was practically screaming now. "Do you understand me!? NOTHING!" With the other three silenced by his little outburst, Brendan began walking away from the group but turned back to say one last thing.

"And don't you tell me leaving people behind don't matter."

With that said, Brendan began walking further back from the group so he wouldn't have to speak to the people he left with mixed feelings. Because of his outburst, Aggie was now feeling scared, Ryder was feeling a tad concerned for him and Crawden was feeling still wary but mostly curious about what he had said before proceeding to walk behind the group. Half an hour later, Aggie announced that they were almost at her tree and hoping he had calmed down, Crawden asked Brendan a question.

"Vulka, what did you mean by what you said; about not telling you that leaving people behind didn't matter?" Brendan was silent for a minute before sighing and replying "It doesn't really matter." At this, Crawden tapped Aggie on the shoulder; telling her to stop. When everyone was in their own tracks, Crawden scowled at Brendan. "It obviously DOES matter if you're going to the lengths of hurting the only girl who can save us to prove a point" he said angrily. The soldier scowled back as a response before sitting down on a nearby log; the other three not knowing how long his tale was going to be.

"_It all started when my squad was called into action. The boss said that our mission was to rescue a Mr. Byron White from an area that had been greatly affected by an infection so much that it was considered a biohazard. 5 squads were sent in; ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA and the one I was in charge of, ECHO. My squad consisted of me, my best friend Andy Muller, my top-ranking soldier Jack Kennedy and his rookie cousin Ricky Redfield._

_The squads were all deposited at different locations of the village. ALPHA and DELTA teams weren't lucky at all; they all flat lined within the first five minutes of the search. CHARLIE went next after half an hour and neither my squad nor BRAVO had seen any sign of White. After another hour, BRAVO flat lined; leaving me and my squad as the only ones left. It was then I began to follow the rule that was 'Never leave a man behind'._

_Then it happened; we were attacked from all sides. I tried to help them, my squad but I couldn't do anything except one thing. I ran. I ran as fast as I could with a couple of the infected following me until they eventually chased me to the church you guys were in. After I killed the infected that had chased me, I decided to shelter in the church for a while. As I opened the door and saw you guys, I had just promising myself that I wouldn't leave another man behind because the only reason I'm alive is that the infected were too busy killing my friends..."_

Brendan Vulka looked up from the ground and saw his three allies; all in shock. He stood and walked in front of the group so they could see him clear as day. "So yeah, Byron White may have been a bad man but that wasn't the point. The only reason I shot him in the leg was so one of you could take his gun. If I were on my own I would've helped him up in a heartbeat and I would've helped him back there but I didn't because of how you would all react but none of you said that we should help him; you all left him for dead just like I did my friends." Brendan turned his head a little to look directly at a sad-looking Aggie. "So now you know why it DOES matter if we left him behind." Seeing that his story and message had changed the vision of his allies, Brendan walked past them and towards the biggest tree in the forest that was about a mile ahead but could still be seen. As the soldier walked on, the doctors and girl followed.

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It had been a quiet last few minutes but before the group knew it, they were only a few feet away Aggie's tree. As the group stepped forward with the guardians of Agatha Prendergast having their weapons raised, bolts of green electricity appeared out of thin air. One bolt struck a different nearby tree in its branches whilst three other bolts shot themselves towards the bases of three separate trees. Suddenly, four men, each of them wearing bullet proof vests armed with AK-47 assault rifles appeared from where the bolts of electricity had struck; each had bloodshot red eyes and grey skin like the infected in the village but these people held firearms and seemed to grin evilly as they saw the group; they could only reach the conclusion that these four people were of the other infected, the officers. Out of nowhere, a loud dark voice sounded from somewhere near Aggie's tree.

"You're too late! Soon, I'll be at full power and I'll spread my infection around the entire globe whilst you four are left here to rot!"

Aggie felt tears come to her eyes as she heard this because the dark voice belonged to her crush, Norman. "No" she let out in a wimp. Hearing the wimp, Crawden looked down at the girl and felt his own tears come to his eyes as he realised that it was his nephew who had just spoke with that truly inhuman tone. Suddenly, all at once, the officer infected began at the group, leading them to take cover behind some trees.

Crawden was the first to respond by using his M1911 pistol to shoot the officer in the tree, knocking it from it and causing it to break its neck. Next, Brendan revealed himself to the officers but not giving them a chance to react as he quickly sent flurries of bullets into two of them. As Crawden was about to shoot the last officer, Witch Norman's voice rung out again from Aggie's tree as two YELLOW bolts of electricity struck the ground.

"You think you can stop me!? I have always been superior to you!"

By now, four infected were in place of where the yellow electricity had struck the ground; two officers and two warriors. As the officers began to shoot the hiding heroes with their AK-47s, one warrior ran to where Crawden was and the other towards Prof. Ryder; both armed with military machetes (machete but has spiked teeth as well as an average cutting edge). As Crawden killed the warrior infected that had chosen him and Brendan took care of the two officers, Ryder fought against the second of the infected warriors; Ryder using his tomahawk (the other one is back at Byron White's helicopter) and the warrior using its military machete. The two fought for a little while until the infected warrior stunned Ryder with a kick and then put its machete into the doctor's head.

"RYDER!" Crawden screamed in horror as he witnessed the warrior pull the machete from the man's skull, causing the doctor's body to fall to the ground motionless. In anger, Crawden shot the warrior in the head, killing it before he shot the entire bullet clip into the infected's body. As Crawden knelt down to weep on his best friend, a RED bolt of electricity struck the bottom of Aggie's tree and along with it came Norman's new dark voice once more.

"I have one last card to play! Now, you must face ME!"

Where the red bolt of electricity had struck the tree there was now a black portal in it. As if on instinct, Aggie immediately began sprinting to the portal from where she had been hiding behind a different tree. "AGGIE!" Brendan called. "YOU CAN'T GO ALONE! COME BACK!" He pleaded. At the voice, the puritan girl turned to look at the soldier and said "Don't worry, I'll bring him back; no man gets left behind" she said, quoting Brendan from earlier. Before Brendan could react, Aggie jumped through the portal and into Norman's version of hell...

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_(A/N – Next chapter will be the last one! I plan to finish this on Christmas Eve (British clock) so you guys can take the conclusion as a Christmas present!)_


	10. Making what's wrong right

**The nightmare that won't go away chapter 10 – Making what's wrong right**

_(A/N – I know I said I was going to upload this on Christmas eve as an early Christmas present but sadly, my PC has been experiencing technical difficulties due to it being infected with a virus and my internet going down. As you can see now however, everything is now as right as rain so please, enjoy the conclusion to __The nightmare that won't go away._

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Aggie felt a searing pain hit her as she landed on her face from falling through the dark portal. On instinct to protect herself, she leaped up from the ground with a yelp of pain and she began to pat her now slightly burned face. As the temperature of her face went down, Aggie's small yelps subsided and she opened her eyes. When she did, she couldn't believe the sight before her.

A couple of metres before Aggie was her tree except it was black instead of the traditional tree brown and it had red cracks running up every single branch and the tree trunk. The puritan girl then moved her view to the surrounding area and noticed that the whole of the ground near the tree was also black and also had blood red cracks running along it. After seeing the landscape, Aggie felt nervous and turned back to go through the portal from which she came but found it gone.

Suddenly, from behind Aggie came a sound similar to a sonic explosion. Slowly as if she was afraid to see what was behind her, Aggie turned around and when she saw nothing, she raised her head a little; it was only then did Aggie see the worst nightmare of her mind in the flesh.

Floating in the air in front of Aggie was Norman or should she say 'Norman's inner witch'. As Perry had earlier described, Norman's inner witch gave him lightning like hair and blood shot eyes. However, because he was almost at full power, Norman's eyes and skin was a full orange instead of Aggie's olive green whilst his hair was a dark blood red instead of Aggie's dark green. When Norman caught sight of his old crush frozen below him, he floated down lower until he was practically on the ground but he was still floating.

"Hello" the evil boy with the red skin started whilst the girl just stared with disbelief at her crush's new dark tone. "It won't be long now; soon I'll be at my peak of power and my infection will go global, causing everyone to go on a killing rampage like the villagers of Blithe Hollow." Because she was listening to him, Aggie began to move forward to Norman to calm him down; she refused to listen to her crush talk of death and destruction. "Norman, please stop this" she pleaded. "This isn't you; it's your inner witch heritage." At this, a mix of an evil and angry frown overtook Norman's features and he moved closer to Aggie so he was face-to-face with the now startled girl.

"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHATS RIGHT AND WHATS WRONG!?" He screamed in face, causing tears to form in the corner of Aggie's eyes. "I'm not an idiot; I've been watching you Aggie and I know that if it weren't for my infection turning the villagers into heartless killers then you wouldn't have returned!" To Aggie's definite displeasure, Norman then backed away from the girl a smidge to strike her with a red bolt of 'witch energy' like she had done to him years ago. Now looking at Aggie on the ground, Norman frowned at her deeply again before pointing at a space in front of her where a portal randomly appeared before saying "Now leave to the ruined village and await your inevitable fait."

Still in pain from Norman's energy blast, Aggie weakly stood up and turned to the witch boy; there was a determined look on her face. "No, Norman" she said to his shock. "I'm now leaving to that ruined village because there are people counting on me to sort this out, counting on me to bring you home." In a rage at the puritan girl's words, Norman raised a giant hand from the ground to hit Aggie, sending her to the ground flat like fresh steamrollered tarmac. "I'm not going anywhere with you" Norman stated as he looked down at the now dazed girl. "I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

Aggie looked up to at the witch boy with that determined look still on her features, this angered Norman greatly. "But you do Norman" she said as she stood up once more. "I know how you feel and I regret saying those things to you; more than you can imagine." As red sparks flew from Norman's features in anger, he clenched his fists and raised them to the air, causing two blood red spikes the size of swords to rise from the ground and cut Aggie across her chest. "I don't feel that way about you anymore!" Norman shouted as Aggie grabbed her chest in pain. "You broke my heart; you're just like THEM Agatha! You don't care or know how I feel!"

Aggie felt a bolt of hurt go through her heart at Norman's words; she hated the knowledge that Norman was comparing her to the people who made his life a misery at times such as the people of the village who saw him as a freak, Alvin and sometimes, even his own parents. Aggie began to cry at the thought; this didn't go unnoticed by the witch boy. "Why are you crying?" Norman asked with disgust mixed into his inner witch's dark tone. "Because you're comparing me to people who actually see you differently! I don't see you differently; I DO know how you feel, Norman and I know that you don't mean to do this!" Again, Aggie's words made Norman want to kill her.

"But I do mean it because I want everyone in the entire WORLD to know how I feel; I want them to be like me!" Slightly calming down, Norman's expression changed from angry to frustrated as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. "Hurt, isolated, looked down on, alone" Norman raised his head and opened his eyes to say the last effecting words of description. "Unloved."

At her crush's words, Aggie walked towards Norman and put her arms around him and was shocked to realise that for the first time in their encounter, the witch boy did not retaliate. "You're wrong, Normy" Aggie said, trying to ease the situation by using a 'cute' nickname. "You're not isolated or looked down on; you've been accepted by people since you saved me from MY inner witch..." Aggie paused to look at Norman's eyes which were no longer angry but sad and full of sorrow. "And you're not unloved, I love you."

The sadness left Norman's eyes as anger returned to fill them again. "LIAR!" He screamed as he blasted Aggie out of his personal space with a shock wave. "You don't love me! If you did, you wouldn't have left two weeks ago when you found out!" Aggie sat up from the ground as Norman moved towards her again. "I know, Norman" Aggie said. "I shouldn't have done that but I want you to know that I DO love you; I was just scared about how the villagers would look at you! You know, for being with a relative." Aggie finished as this was one of the reasons that she had left him.

"Well even if you do love me, I'm letting you know right now that I DON'T love you anymore!" Norman shouted in response whilst he caused bolts of red 'witch energy' to rain from the sky, some striking Aggie but not giving her enough pain to send her to the ground. "But you DO love me Norman, I know you do because this isn't you; it's your inner witch!" By now, Aggie was only a few metres from being face-to-face with her crush again but was pulled forward by Norman's bare hands in anger. "PROVE IT THEN!" He screamed. Seeing this as her chance to end it all, Aggie replied with an action instead of words.

She leaned forward and locked their lips.

Norman was too shocked by the action to respond but he was also enjoying the taste of Aggie's lips too much to push her away. The puritan girl, on the other hand was practically trying to bruise the boy's lips as she continuously kissed him over and over. After about a minute, Aggie pulled away from Norman for a breather and to look at Norman's expression, she wasn't surprised when it said 'shocked'. "That enough proof for you?" she asked rhetorically to him. As if she knew it was the right thing to do, Aggie placed her right hand onto Norman's face whilst her left intertwined with his. "Come back to me, Normy."

At the words, Norman began to scream like a banshee and forcefully placed both his hands onto his head in agony. At first sight, Aggie became worried but calmed down as she noticed Norman's hair, skin and eyes flash rapidly between their normal colour and his inner witch's red. To help, Aggie hugged Norman from behind which only made the inner witch's fight for control of Aggie's crush harder. After a minute of Norman's high pitch screaming, a shock wave erupted from the boy's body, sending Aggie away from him and to the ground.

With the feeling of pain going through her entire body, Aggie weakly raised herself from the ground and slowly walked towards where she had been holding Norman to her. When she managed to stumble too where she had last been, Aggie's expression showed pure happiness as she found Norman unconscious on the ground but she was happy because of his appearance. He was no longer the witch boy; he was plain old Norman Babcock.

* * *

Sandra, Perry and Courtney all ran through the village as fast as they could; surrounded by the infection's survivors. About two minutes ago, a second shock wave had passed through the entire village and all the survivors expected the worst but to everybody's pleasure and relief, the shockwave had began to turn the infected normal again. Throughout the whole of Blithe Hollow, every single infected that was breathing had begun to scream whilst their bloodshot red eyes began to return to the villager's normal colour. When the screaming had stopped, the Babcock family immediately knew that Aggie had saved Norman from his inner witch and so without warning, both parents and the one sister ran from the church that had protected them from the infected and towards the forest that Aggie had told them it was where Norman would be.

And so right now, that was where the family were heading at this moment in time. As they were only about minutes from the forest, the family could make out three people in the distance. One was a man with silver hair and was wearing a full body yellow hazmat suit, another was the family's adopted daughter but it was the sight of the third person that got the family to increase their pace.

"NORMAN!" Perry shouted as he ran towards his son who had his arm draped around Aggie's shoulders for support. Before the family could reach their son/brother, Brendan Vulka stopped them in their tracks by stepping in front of them. "Your son is fine" he started. "He just needs rest." Courtney and Sandra let sighs of relief from their mouths whilst Perry was moving his head in every direction. "Where's my brother?" He asked Brendan, referring to Dr. Crawden.

"His friend Dr. Ryder was killed by the infected during our mission; he's back at Aggie's tree talking to his boss to arrange a funeral." At the words, Perry nodded his head and said "Sorry, I wasn't listening about Norman; how is he?" As Brendan was about to respond, his eyes went wide at the sight of Aggie suddenly smashing her lips against Norman's and kissing him viscously. When the soldier didn't reply, all three family members turned their heads and went wide eyed also. After they all turned away to give the new couple their moment, a cocky grin came across Brendan's face and he said...

"I'm sure he's going to be just fine."

* * *

_(A/N – And there you go; everything turned out alright in the end! Again, I'm sorry for the late update but I hope that this happy (and slightly funny, in my opinion) ending made up for it. At this point in time, __Curse of the Gam-gul__ is the story that has the most votes on my poll so that will be the story that I do next; it will be started some time after I go back to school on Jan 7__th__._

_If you REALLY liked this story, you might be happy to know that I have created a __Fictionpress __to write prequels to these stories about my OCs. Here is a summery for the prequel to this story known as __I will do it for love__._

"_From what we know, Byron White was a ruthless man who wanted nothing more than to bring Norman Babcock to Wide spread and to collect his prize fund but why was he reduced to this? Join us on a journey to see Byron White as a war hero and a good man before a certain event led to his eventual death")._


	11. Sequel poll announcement

**JUST A QUESTION**

**I Have been considering it and because this story has claimed so many views, favourites, reviews and followers, I have decided to write out a sequel to this story, "A nightmare that won't go away."**

**However, As much as I like writing the 'Norgatha' ship of ParaNorman, it would be unfair to my others readers to just drop everything and do this sequel for you guys. So here's what we're going to do.**

**At this moment in time, there is a poll up on my profile. I simply want you to vote 'yes' or 'no' to the question 'Would you like a sequel to "The nightmare that won't go away?'. Once I have completed the story I am currently writing (A 'Teen Titans' story called "Past's gripping shadow"), I will count up the votes and depending on the amount, the following things could happen.**

_More 'Yes' over 'No' __– The planned sequel will be put in a spot below half way on my 'future stories/projects' checklist, probably around 5 or 4._

_More 'No' over 'Yes' __– The planned sequel will be put in the bottom half of the story checklist, probably around 10, 11 or even last at 12._

**Now, its completely up to you guys so please vote and if you would like to know the planned **_plot _**for the sequel, don't be afraid to send me a PM asking that very question.**

_TheDarkWriter7_


	12. Sequel poll results

**Alright guys, here's what you've been waiting for.**

**First of all, I just want to say that the reason I am announcing the results now is that I believed that waiting until I finished my current story (Teen titans story "Past's gripping shadow") would be too long of a wait, considering how long I plan for it to be.**

**Anyway, I am happy to tell you all that I have counted up the poll votes and the result is that even though only 12 of you voted (honestly, I expected at least 30), all of them voted 'yes' to wanting a sequel. Because of this, the planned sequel that will be known as 'Third time's the charm' will be started after my current story is finished,**

**So everyone, be sure you know where your ParaNorman reading glasses are, because I plan for this sequel to be MUCH better than the original!**

_Sincerely, TheDarkWriter7_


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